Art is Life/ Life is Art

One of my recent pieces that I feel the proudest of is a chair I bought at a thrift store, and made into a piece titled "I will Sit Here."

At our show at Moffitt (see previous post), we had artist statements posted on our labels by each piece, so that people could read about the inspiration and how all of the pieces relate to the Breastplates and Other Artful Armor theme.

Here is what I wrote for my artist statement about my chair:
I Will Sit Here
Mixed Media chair- wood, fabric, acrylic paint
Size: 23”W x 29-1/2” H x 19” D
"Before this chair was as it is now, it was just an ugly brown chair found at the Hospice thrift store, covered with dripping paint and green stretchy fabric cushions. It felt empowering to remove the ugliness, strip the old layers away, and add fresh paint and fabric, along with my writing.
I cannot purport to know what it is like to struggle with cancer myself, but I imagined myself there, using my own thoughts from past hardships, my conversations with those I know who have survived breast cancer, and what I have read and taken into my own consciousness. I hope to honor those who have experienced the struggle."

The chair has been painted with acrylic paints and covered with a poem that I wrote titled "I WIll Sit Here:"

I wll sit here and this chair will support me.
It will support me on good days and bad days
And will remain unchanged, though I am forever changed by my circumstances.

I can grieve for the loss of peace, as I wait for illness to pass and answers to tests. I can be sad.

I can grieve for the loss of peace as I anticipate surgery. I can be strong.

I can sit here and meditate on my blessings.
I can bring those who love me close into myself- into my very spirit,
As I hug them to my heart
And am supported
As I Sit Here.

My life and the lives of others will continue.

This disease cannot steal my soul from me.

I can still love, inspire, do what I am able to do'in each moment that I am able to do it.

And this chair will support me.

I will survive.

I am so excited to finally update my blog with pictures from the opening at Moffitt, and information about my two most recent openings!










The Crossroads show at Mirta's was our preview show for our larger Breastplates show and tour. It was only up for a few weeks, but I did sell two of the pieces I had hung in the show, and we received some press for the event to carry over to our Moffitt exhibit. Our opening there was well-attended and we all had a great time. We did get strange news when it was time to take our show down. Mirta's announced that our show would be the last one there, and that they would be closing, as one of their partners recently left the business.

Our Breastplates and Other Artful Armor Against Cancer show just opened this past Wednesday, November 1st, at the beautiful Stabile building atrium at H. Lee Moffit Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa. It was well-supported by Moffitt's leadership board, and will possibly give us connections at other venues. Belleview Hospital in New York was mentioned as another possible facility, and we are already in negotiations with a gallery in Chicago and a medical facility in Philadelphia, so after some time goes by, I'll let you know what comes of all these.

As it stands, we will have our show up at Moffitt through January 20th, 2007. We will be joining forces with another touring show that is focused on breast cancer survivor's portraits, called Faces of Courage. One of my pieces, titled "Wrappings" is currently being shown in a window display with the Faces of Courage work in popular Ybor City. Some of the Breastplates work will join with the Faces of Courage show, and we will have additional venues to display both locally and on the tour, due to the places they have already secured for their tour. It is all very exciting!

I had thirteen pieces in the Mirta's show, and currently have my breastplate and three additional pieces in the Moffitt show, one of which has sold.

I have a lot of other things to update here on the blog- other work I've done recently, etcetera, but here is the work shown at Moffitt for the Breastplates event.

All art shown in these pictures is my work, but I did show the entire "torso wall" which includes a wonderful mosaic torso by artist Jennie Petruney of Philadelphia, and a beautiful copper torso piece with photo collages of breast cancer survivors hanging around the neck like a necklace. My breastplate is the one on the far left, mounted on a square blue canvas. Isn't the torso wall cool??!!